The Dementors' Doctor
by Lucenthia
Summary: The Doctor, Amy and Rory get flung into a magical adventure right on their doorstep.
1. Chapter 1

"Alright, Doctor" Amy asked as she was forced to sit down due to the TARDIS's bumpy ride. "What's going on? You've already taken us away for a whole month this time and we need to get back. Rory's actually got a job he has to be at-"

"Oi". Rory poked his head out from the other rooms of the TARDIS. "I am perfectly capable of getting a job."

"Oh yeah," Amy started. "How long did it take you to-"

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" The doctor yelled as he rushed around the TARDIS control room, arms flapping like the raggedy man Amy had been so taken away with all those years ago. "All this talking" he was saying as he fiddled with the knobs and levers "Is not cool. Crashing the TARDIS is not cool. So could you all please be quiet until we-"

The TARDIS rumbled and interrupted the doctor. He stopped talking as he continued running about, fiddling with (and occasionally bashing) the buttons.

"Why is this even happening anyways?" Rory asked. "One minute we've just escaped from this insane chinese martial artist, which, by the way, was NOT my fault. Then-"

"Oh, yeah right." Amy cut in. "We told you to avoid all the maniacs you met, but-"

"STOP!" The Doctor yelled. "Bad energy!" He thumped the monitor a couple of times. "Bad, bad, bad, energy!"

"Don't go on about that rubbish! We don't have to act like chinese mystics anymore!" Amy yelled. There was steam coming out of the bottom now, and Amy was starting to worry.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor was yelling. "The TARDIS is detecting bad energy! Really bad energy! And it's drawn to it automatically. I can't sto-" His voice was cut off as he was thrown off the railing into the lower floor of the control room.

Amy hung onto a rail, while Rory, who wasn't as lucky, toppled over the railing and fell on the control room. Groaning, the trio picked themselves up and the Doctor found their location on his monitor once he climbed back up. The TARDIS had stopped jerking around, and apart from the occasional flame and sparks coming out of the control board, everything was still.

"We're in England again." The Doctor smiled. "See, told you I'd get it right."

Amy was suspicious. She'd been with the Doctor too long not too expect something after a ride that bumpy. But, she had no choice. She stepped out warily and looked around. She didn't want to jump to conclusions but it seemed that he was right. She was looking out onto a plain countryside.

The doctor gave her one of those smiles again, then was about to hop back into his TARDIS, arms waving about as usual, when a voice rang out "Step away from the police box"

All three of them spun around and saw two red-headed adults a bit younger than Rory and Amy in normal clothing. They were obviously brother and sister, and they were holding sticks around a foot long.

"Are those supposed to be magic wands?" Amy asked with a raised eyebrow.

The two looked shocked. "Ron! You said these were muggles!" The woman said.

"Well they are!" Ron looked back. "They don't even know what wands are!"

Rory was looking confused. "Uh, there are no magic wands. Wands don't exist, at least not on earth." He looked at the Doctor for confirmation.

"Hmm, yes. Magic just doesn't exist, it's not part of this world." The Doctor said, turning his head this way and that. "If I could just examine them..." He got out his sonic screwdriver and moved forward, but the girl brandished her so-called wand and yelled "Expelliarmus!"

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver flew out of his hand and into the grass behind him.

"Tie them up." The girl said as she went to examine the TARDIS.

"Ginny, they're harmless!" Ron protested. But Ginny just gave him a look almost identical to the one Amy gave Rory and walked off.

"Incarsurus!" Ron muttered and ropes flew out of his wand and around the trio.

"Uh, you won't be able to open that." The Doctor pointed out as Ginny pulled at the door.

"Alohomora" Ginny said, but the door still didn't open. She glared at the Doctor.

"Ginny, it's fine." Ron said. "We can get Lupin or someone from the ministry to open it later. We need to get these people to the Burrow."

Ginny grunted unsatisfactorily, then walked down the hill.

"Come with us." Ron said apologeticaly, then followed Ginny.

**A/N: My first crossover. I'm not going into the science vs magic aspect, it'll be too complicated. Hope you guys enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

he Doctor was in heaven when he got into the Burrow. That was what Ginny and Ron called their house anyways. He was literally bouncing up and down, and if he hadn't been tied down he would have fiddled with everything he could in the house. He normally never got this excited. Of course, he usually knew what powered the things he encountered when he went travelling. Now he wasn't surrounded by just ordinary clutter, he was surrounded by clutter that operated completely outside his knowledge, and he loved it.

"Ron! What have you brought into the house?" Another voice came from behind them. A short, portly, grandmotherly looking woman came down the stairs. She was obviously their mother, even though most of her hair had greyed

"Why do you always think it's me?" Ron asked in an aggrieved voice.

"And were not cats, thank you very much." Amy cut in with her usual glare.

But instead of withering, or stepping back, the mother answered back with an equally fierce glare. "You appear right in our backyard, you don't tell us where you're from, of course we're suspicious."

"Why, what's going on?" The Doctor asked. If he had his hands free he'd be straightening that stupid bow tie.

"Nothing." The mother snapped back. And she left.

But they didn't have long to wait. It hadn't been five minutes when some more people appeared out of nowhere with a CRACK.

"Oh, that is very cool." The Doctor muttered, his eyes practically out on stalks. "That was instantaneous transportation. Of course, the crack is the air immediately displaced. But it must be a terrible strain on the body. How do you stand it?"

"Quiet, muggle." One of the people said. He was wearing blue robes that flapped around his feet. "You are addressing the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt himself. Show some respect."

"And what're you supposed to be?" Amy demanded. "Merlin the wizard and his little entourage?"

"How dare you sully the great name of merlin with your tongue?" The wizard growled, but a dark skinned, tall man laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Peace, Gregson." He turned to the trio and waved his wand, causing the ropes around the trio to fall to the ground. Turning to the three of them, he said. "You must forgive our rudeness, but we are all in a bit of a crisis.

The other three wizards looked at the man in surprise. "Minister Shacklebolt!" Gregson protested in consternation. "We cannot be leaking secrets to-"

Shacklebolt looked at Gregson and his voice trailed off. Turning back to the three of them, he said. "As I was saying, we are in a bit of a crisis."

"Ah, yes, the crisis. The source of the bad energy I assume." The doctor was now bouncing around the cluttered room, and Shacklebolt was probably regretting undoing the Doctor's bonds.

"Bad energy?" Gregson cut in. "This man is obviously-" But he was silenced by another look from Shacklebolt.

"We call them dementors. They used to be our jailers, but they've gone out of control after... well, that's a different story. Anyways, dementors feed off people's souls, and project fear into its victims."

"So why can't you wizards stop them by waving your wands, or fly around on your broomsticks?" Amy asked, still not forgiving Ginny for tying them up.

"We are doing our best, but it seems that the dementors can increase their number somehow. We have been steadily hunting down dementors for the past 6 months, but their numbers don't seem to be diminishing. On the contrary, their attacks are becoming more frequent. There is obviously someone more intelligent behind these dementor attacks, so of course, when three people appear next to one of our base of operations, completely breaching all our defences, you have to admit we have cause to worry."

"Hmm, yes..." The Doctor murmured. "Soul sucking monsters, wizards, and everything operated by something I don't get... I'll take the job." He made to run out the door to his TARDIS but stopped dead. Shacklebolt's wand was out and he was pointing it at the Doctor.

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid you're confined here until we can discover just who and what you are." Shacklebolt said. Even though his slow pace and deep rumble hadn't changed, the three of them got a glimpse of the ferocity of Shacklebolt that emerged only when everything he knew and loved was threatened.

"Alright. The Doctor conceded. Where will we be staying?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to impose on you until we can find a safe place for them to stay, Mrs. Weasly." Shacklebolt said, and suddenly he was all courtesy and manners, erasing all trace of the formidable fighter that was hidden underneath.

"Oh, quite alright." Mrs. Weasly replied. "Ginny, you'll have to share a name with the other woma-"

"Oi, for the last time, we're not just cats someone dragged in." Amy interrupted. "I'm Amy, since you didn't ask. This is Rory, and this is the Doctor." She said gesturing to the in turn. "Oh, and don't ask." Amy added as Ron opened his mouth.

"Oh, thanks a lot, Pond." The Doctor said. "That's the best bit about meeting people: having them ask The Question."

All the wizards were looking quizzically at the exchange. Amy just rolled her eyes and raised her hands in defeat. "Go ahead." She said to the wizards.

"Uhh, Doctor who?" Ron asked, and the Doctor gleefully rubbed his hands together.

"Just the Doctor." He said with a grin, and followed Amy and Rory happily as they were led up to their rooms.


	3. Chapter 3

Amy was woken by a crash in the living room. She sat up and went down the stairs to look.

"Lumos." She heard a new voice mutter. A dim, white light came out of a man's wand. Amy could make out his black hair that covered part of his eyes. He wore glasses and was being hugged by Ginny.

"You idiot!" She hissed. "Why did you have to go out on another dementor run?" Amy crouched down low, not wanting to be seen.

"Did you even think of James? You were orphaned before you could walk, you should know." Ginny continued. But she broke off and looked away.

"That was a bit of an overreaction, Ginny." The man was saying. "I was fine. It's not like you haven't gone out on a few yourself."

"A bit of an overreaction?" Ginny hissed. "Why don't you ever think? And you just had to do it right before christmas. Mum would be destroyed if you-"

"But I didn't" The man said. "Besides, I'm obligated to."

Ginny sighed. "I expected better from Shacklebolt. Of course they have to have the great Harry Potter on the frontlines. Never a break for the Chosen One."

Harry ruffled his hair. "It's my job. I'm an auror, besides, I've told you not to call me that"

"Then don't go out on dementor runs." Ginny sighed again. "Sorry. But it's just that when Kingsley told me you'd gone out on a dementor run and just left James alone two days before Christmas..." She trailed off.

Harry looked abashed. "He wasn't alone. Hermione and Ron are going to be bringing him along with Rose tomorrow."

Ginny's voice had softened to normality and Amy started to make her way back up. But as she did so she heard Ginny say "Oh, you probably haven't heard, but some people popped up in a police box on the hill. Completely blasted through all the ministry defences. Shacklebolt seems to trust them but..." She trailed off.

Amy stopped and listened to Harry's reply. "They do seem suspicious, but they have the Trace put on them right? It's not like they'll be going anywhere."

Amy didn't wait for Ginny's reply and she crept up the stairs and pretended to sleep when Ginny came in.

The next day, Amy woke and saw Rory being woken by Ron. They both went down to the kitchen to see the Doctor arguing with a ministry representative.

"I've got to have my sonic screwdriver. It'd just take a minute."

The ministry representative looked at him with disdain. "You say you have a sonic screwdriver, but I have summoned it and nothing has come."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I've told you, that's because it repels all electronic and quantum relay signals, not to mention it resists any magnetic field weaker than six hundered and sixty six tesla and anti-gravitational fields stronger than seventy five alvarons. Honestly." He said, turning to Amy and Rory as the ministry representative stared at him in confusion and disbelief "What is it with people these days?"

"Just nod and act like you understand what the bloody hell he's saying." Amy said as she walked past Rory. "Anything for breakfast?" She asked Ginny.

Ginny looked at her coldly, then turned to the ministry representative. "Clarke, the 'Doctor'" She pronounced the word laden with skepticism "Drew out something from his coat pocket when we first met. I disarmed him and it definitely didn't seem to resist anything" she looked pointedly at the Doctor "but it should be somewhere around the police box."

The Doctor grinned at her "Good, finally someone smart. Let's go then." He sprung up but Clarke pointed his wand at the Doctor. "You will stay here until further instructed, muggle."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Oi, you. What's with this 'muggle' business. In case Shacklebolt forgot to mention it to you, I'm Amy, the stupid looking one's Rory," Rory rolled his eyes but had already resigned himself, "And the weird one's the Doctor." Amy continued. "So don't call us muggles. Whatever they are."

Clarke snorted but Ginny cut in before he could say anything. "Fine. I'll go with Harry and look for the thing. You three." She said, looking at the three of them in turn. "Stay here. Mum'll make breakfast when she gets down." And with that, she left.


	4. Chapter 4

"Is this your sonic screwdriver?" Ginny had come back with Ron ten minutes later. She threw the contraption on the table.

"Ah, brilliant. Brilliant." The Doctor sprang up and grabbed it. He waved it around and it flashed green, making the humming noise as it did so. Clarke immediately jumped up and yelled "Expelliarmus!" The Doctor's wand was thrown back again, and he stumbled a few paces back.

"For god's sake, man" Amy rolled her eyes. "What is with this paranoia? Anyone can see this idiot's harmless."

"Thank you, Amy." The Doctor said. "But that repulsion field was extremely cool. If I just adjusted the settings..." Clarke looked at the Doctor in the look of disbelief that now looked normal on his face. "Ah, good. Now, have at me scoundrel." He said, flourishing his screwdriver. "I've been wanting to say that for centuries" he said, looking back at Amy and Rory.

"How dare you." Clarke growled. "Stuepfy" He cried. But the red stream coming out of his wand disappeared as it came into contact with the Doctor's screwdriver.

"Haha!" The Doctor crowed. " I knew it wouldn't be hard to dissipate the-" Ginny glared at him. "Will you shut up?"

The doctor was about to answer when Amy cut in "No. No, he doesn't. Get used to it."

"Back to the topic..." The Doctor half-yelled "I took on the job last night, and-"

"Get this through your head, muggle" Clarke glared. "This is not some 'job' you can just take on. You can't even use magic."

"But he could stop it." Harry cut in quietly, and Clarke fell silent. He was young, but he commanded a lot of respect. "If he could stop a stunning spell with some seconds of fiddling, he might have some way to fight the dementors."

Clarke's face purpled but he didn't say anything. Instead, he stalked out the room, muttering something about guard duty, and stuffing that screwdriver somewhere unpleasant.

"Finally, someone with a bit of sense." Amy sighed. Ginny still looked at Amy with distrust, but Ron seemed to accept them.

"So, these dementors." The Doctor pronounced the last word with relish. "what are they?"

"Harry looked at Ginny and Ron, then answered "That's...hard to answer. We don't know what they are and how they work. Shacklebolt already told you most of what we know."

"Typical Londoners." Amy muttered "Absolutely bloody useless in a crisis."

Ginny glared at her. "At least we don't turn up out of the blue and leech of these useless londonders. Bloody welsh."

"Oi." Amy protested "I'm scottish."

Ginny rolled her eyes "Can't think why I couldn't distinguish that difference." She smiled slightly, then said "So what can a doctor do to help us?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "Well, the first things doctors normally do is to conduct autopsies."

Harry shook his head. "The department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures have called dibs on all the bodies for examination."

Ron snorted. "I thought becoming an auror would've made you more like Moody, mate. Since when were you so polite?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows "Moody?"

Amy cut in before Ron could answer "And now you know how everyone else feels. Ron, don't answer."

Ginny and Harry looked at Amy funnily, but the Doctor went on. "Not a problem. I can just zip in and out. But I'll need my TARDIS."

"Your what?" Harry asked

"It's an acronym." The Doctor said as he stood up. "It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"It's that police box we came in" Amy said as she followed the Doctor.

Rory followed, and Harry and Ginny got up as they followed the Doctor to his TARDIS.

**A/N: Yes, not much happens here. But this is still the reconciling stage where the wizards don't realize the Doctor is awesome. Things will speed up by chapters 6 or 7**


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor shoved the doors to the TARDIS opened dramatically and turned to see the looks on Ron, Ginny and Harry's faces. "Well?" He said eagerly. They looked appropriately bewildered but Ron's next words shattered his happiness

"Muggles have this sort of thing too?"

"What?" The Doctor said "You humans have this sort of thing too?"

"Yeah, course we do." Ron said looking around. "We had a tent some years back but it got lost in the Quiditch World Cup. Wow." Ron added looking at the control panel "Dad would go absolutely mad in this thing, he'd take this whole thing apart and try to find out what made it go."

The Doctor looked crestfallen as Ginny said "He's still working on working out how airplanes stay up. You remember his last experiment."

Ron shook his head. "Honestly, at his age he should know better."

Rory looked at the two of them "Wait, none of you have gone in an airplane before?"

"Why would we need to?" Ginny shrugged "we can just apparate."

"Apparition?" The Doctor spun around. "What's that? Is it that weird teleporty thing you can do?" He set some of the levers.

"Well-" Ron started, but the Doctor waved at him frantically "No time for that!" He told Ron who opened his mouth. "This is an emergency. Honestly. Now." He turned to Harry as Rory patted Ron on the back "Now, where are these bodies being kept?"

Harry frowned "In the ministry of magic. But I'm an auror and I can't just let you break into the ministry like that."

Ginny rolled her eyes "Oh, for goodness sake. How much time have you spent with Hermione?" She walked over to where the Doctor "Does this thing of yours have a map? I can get you to the Atrium. After that we'll have to work things out ourselves, I don't know where the Regulation department is."

"Alright, excellent." The Doctor said. Running to the other side of the console "I'll just turn this on invisible mode first." He pressed some buttons and loud death metal music started playing. "No, no, no!" He cried "What did I do this time?"

Amy and Rory rolled her eyes as Ron came up to them "Umm, I don't mean to be rude but can the Doctor actually, umm, fly this thing?"

Rory looked at Ron "Well, yes. It doesn't always work, but he knows how to." He winced as the TARDIS started radiating bright light as the music stopped. Ron looked first at the Doctor kicking the console, then back at Rory. "Well, most of the time" Rory amended. "There was this time where we-"

He was cut off by Amy cuffing him over the head "Oi, stop blabbering." She said as the Doctor turned the lights off and flipped a switch. "Yes!" The Doctor said "Knew we'd get there. Now, he flipped some levers and the TARDIS made it's normal sound and transported itself to the ministry.

"Doctor" Amy said "Did you turn it on stealth mode?"

The Doctor, who was walking towards the door, stopped dead. Rory groaned as Amy rolled her eyes. The Doctor sprang back to the screen and looked out at the outside. They were in a large room with a golden fountain right in front of them. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't for the stream of wizards buzzing about.

"That's not good" Harry noted "Peasewood's just put up a non-apparation charm, and Francis just scanned for human life. They'll surround us invisible or not."

Harry was right, and they were quickly surrounded by a ring of wizards with their wands outstretched.

"The department we want to get to is 3 floors up" Harry said. "What happens if you teleport yourself into the ceiling?"

"Well," The Doctor said "The molecules in the wall will explode with the sudden introduction of new matter, and it'll be like exploding 3 or 4 nuclear bombs in London. But no worries, it's just a technicality." He ran around to flip a lever but was blasted back by Ginny. "You are not blowing up London." She said slowly. "I don't know who you think you are but you're treating this like it's a game. If you were to blow up London, would you even care?"

The Doctor was struggling to his feet looking icily at Ginny while Harry put his hands on Ginny's shoulders. "Ginny, it's not like he could, a non-apparation charm's already been put up."

Ginny shook him off "There were non-apparation charms around the Burrow as well. How did they get in here? When will you get that this person doesn't fit in with the set rules in our world. He just plays by rules he makes up." She ended the sentence glaring at the Doctor.

Amy had walked over to her and was about to slap her when Harry caught her arm. "You don't know anything about him." Amy hissed "How dare you say he-"

Rory tried to pull Amy back as Ginny yelled something back and was being held back by Harry. Ron was yelling something at Ginny and all the voices rose together.

"SHUT UP" The Doctor roared. He paced back and forth and adressed the five of them now they were silent "First, I am not going to blow up London. Second, we need those bodies to stop this dementor crisis. Third..." He flipped up a lever and the TARDIS moved. The Doctor hadn't bothered to turn it silent and it still made that whirring noise as it left. "The TARDIS was taking a scan of the whole building. There was never any danger." He left out the door without looking back.


	6. Chapter 6

The others followed him, Rory looking around furtively before following. They had appeared in a room with bodies lying on metal tables. It was like a library with bodies instead of books, and it must have been bigger on the inside since it stretched far into the distance. "Excellent." The Doctor said "Just what I need. Amy, Rory," He turned to the two of them looking at the limp bodies "Come and get a couple of the bodies." He turned and dragged one of them through the door. Frowning, Amy and Rory picked one up together, but Amy dropped it after some steps. "Doctor, this man is still alive. He's looking at me."

She was right. The man was limp, but his eyes were open and they darted to and fro. He face, which used to be slack and indifferent, was now grinning vacantly at Amy.

"Yeah, that's what it means to have your soul sucked out." Harry said. His eyes had gotten serious, almost stormy in what seemed like recollection. Ron and Ginny looked at eachother then Ron asked "So, do souls... exist?"

Harry nodded. "That's what ghosts are, souls without bodies to return to, souls that were too scared to go on. Sirius was never scared, he never came back. I was too naive to see that back then. Dumbledore lingered for a bit, but he's gone on now as well."

A silence followed, then the Doctor interrupted "Alright, well, we have to get back to work, we don't know how long those ministry members will be distracted for." He turned to the wizards "I'll need another two bodies, if you three could manage." Harry nodded and four soul-sucked wizards made their way into the TARDIS. The Doctor was pressing some buttons and said "Just made a new room for the bodies. Just dump them into that hole over there" He pointed to a shaft that wasn't there when the five of them left. Ginny looked dubiously at the Doctor but Harry just seemed resigned to following the Doctor. Once the four bodies had been stored the Doctor flipped a lever and went back to the burrow.

They stumbled out of the TARDIS and Ron groaned. "I just remembered, Hermione was coming this morning."

Everyone looked at him, then the Doctor said "By this morning, you mean two or three hours ago?" Ron muttered something that sounded like a curse and the three wizards ran towards the burrow. The Doctor shooed Amy and Rory away "Go with them. I need to analyze these bodies." He went in and closed the door, leaving Amy and Rory looking at each other.

When they got to the Burrow they saw Ron in a chair sighing in relief. "She isn't here yet" he said. Just then, Mrs. Weasly came bustling in "Where on earth have you been?" She said "I was looking for you, you know. It's christmas eve after all and we can't have Hermione come with no one to greet her. Ginny, come with me. There are still some things that need to be sorted. Harry, the chickens need to be fed again and then there are some sheets that need to be folded. Bill and Fleur are in France, but I think Teddy and Andromeda are coming." She said all this without looking, picking up some laundry set on a pile of books by the mantelpiece "Ron, I think the gnomes are getting active again, could you and our new guests take care of them?" And Mrs. Weasley left, leaving Ron's spluttered protests behind her.

As Ginny followed Mrs. Weasly out the door, Harry snickered "You are such a coward when it comes to Hermione."

Ron glared at him and said "You can't talk, I notice you only started when Ginny was out the door. Merlin's beard, I'll feel sorry for James when he gets in trouble."

Harry left to feed the chickens and Amy folded her arms "So what was all that about souls with Harry? You'd have thought he'd died and gotten firsthand information" She had meant it as another sally, but Ron just looked at the table. "Well, yeah. He has." Ron muttered "But it's Harry's story to tell."

There was an awkward silence, then Ron said "Well, let's get de-gnoming. It's always me doing it."

"So do gnomes really exist?" Amy asked, following Ron out the door.

"Yes." Ron said heavily "But you muggles got the image of the gnomes wrong. Trust me, your muggle approximations are as close to the real thing as Tolkien's elves are to house elves."

They went out to the garden, Ron rolling up his sleeves in grim resignation, but they were cut short by the door opening and Kingsley Shacklebolt striding in, with Clarke and another half dozen wizards at his heel.


	7. Chapter 7

"Silencio"

It was Clarke, casting a spell on Ron as he looked in shock at Kingsley's sudden appearance and made to shout for Mrs. Weasley. Amy found she couldn't speak, and neither could Rory.

"Petrificus totalus"

All three of them stood there, rigid and unmoving as Clarke and Gregson charged into the Burrow. Soon, Mrs. Weasley, Harry, and Ginny carrying James were being pushed outside. Mrs. Weasley looked like she was about to explode, and Harry's green eyes looked sharply at and immobilized Ron, and then glared back at Kingsley.

Clarke stepped forward and asked pompously "Where were you this morning?"

Harry's gaze turned to Clarke "I was here. Why do you ask?"

Amy always thought the Doctor had bad timing, like the time he sneezed and gave away their hiding place to a murderous Henry the something or other. True to form, the Doctor just happened to appear, babbling while looking at his sonic screwdriver "Hmm, weird readings on the bodies we got out of the ministry; Harry, I'll need your help again..." He trailed off as he saw Shacklebolt and the rest of his entourage looking at him from feelings that ranged from suspicion, hatred, and in Clarke's case, vindication

"Minister! As I said, this Doctor is in league with the Dementors! How else could the Dementors have attacked us at the exact moment this man distracted us?" Clarked said triumphantly

Shacklebolt looked steadily at the Doctor, his eyes unwavering "Well? Are you in league with these things?"

The Doctor spun around, looking first at Clarke, then at Shacklebolt "No! No, no, of course not. And could you unfreeze my friends, I don't negotiate well when they're being threatened." His voice rose as he finished his sentence.

Kingsley didn't waver. "You have just admitted that you infiltrated the ministry, and that Harry Potter was your accomplice. As the wizards in the ministry gathered around a mysterious unidentifiable object, Dementors attacked the law enforcement department." Ron's eyes bulged and he teetered, almost falling trying to get Kingsley's attention.

"Mrs. Granger was unharmed" Kingsley said looking at Ron "But there were three wizards that were subjected to the dementor's kiss."

The Doctor had straightened his bow tie "What makes you think I'm in league with these Dementors?"

Gregson growled "Because we know it was you box over there after casting disillusionment charms on it, and the Dementors took advantage of our distraction to attack!"

Kingsley nodded "And since none of you have an alibi, we'll have to be taking you into custody."

The Doctor went up close to Kingsley and said in a low voice "I had nothing to do with these Dementors, if I did why would I be doing all this?"

Kingsley held up a hand to silence Clarke's sharp response and said evenly "Because you want to get hostages, because you want information, because you are an unknown quantity and until I can be sure that I can release you without any harm to the wizarding community that is my responsibility, you must be contained."

This speech would have made almost anyone back down, but the Doctor was now deadly serious "I am you best chance of getting out of this mess. If you lock me up the attacks will never stop"

But Kingsley wasn't a man to dither either, and without a word, his wand bound the Doctor, Harry and Ginny. "My apologies, Mrs. Weasley" He said to the red-faced woman "But I'll have to be taking in the rest for questioning as well." He bowed, then walked away, levitating all the captives to the edge of the apparation barrier. It was a good thing Amy had been silenced, as she was now glaring at Kingsley and looking like she'd explode. When they reached some point in the forest, they disappeared.

The Doctor gasped as the unnerving effects of apparating wore off, and registered that the silencing charm had worn off because Amy was now shouting at the ministry wizards. She was quickly bound by Gregson, and Kingsley led them through long, dark corridors. They were in the ministry, that much was obvious. And they were quickly led into two cells, the Doctor, Amy and Rory in one, and Ginny, Ron and Harry into the other. After the door closed, the silencing charm on Amy wore off and she started on an impressive tirade attacking Shacklebolt, wizards, the ministry, and magic in general. At the same time, the Doctor was muttering to himself about how the wizards were apparating "Interesting. That actually felt like compression and immediate travel through the energy of releasing us. How can their wands contain a compression field that can..." He was cut off as Amy rounded on him. "And what were you doing, just blabbing about what we did? Do you even look before you talk? Do..."

Rory, who had gotten used to it, rolled his eyes and wondered what Ginny, Harry and Ron were doing.

**A/N: So, that was chapter 7. I'm not sure if this hasn't been clear, but I would really like reviews, so don't be shy! Apart from that, enjoy and wait for the next chapter. Thanks!**


	8. Chapter 8

Ginny was pacing their cell a corridor or to away from the Doctor, while Harry and Ron just sat there. After a bit, Ron turned to Harry "Do you think following the Doctor was a bad idea?"

Harry shook his head "He seemed to know what he's doing, but there's something about him that's strange."

Ginny turned "Strange? He's stranger than anything we've seen."

Harry nodded "Yeah, but it's not just the half-mad attitude and all that, it seems that there's something underneath..." He trailed off

Ginny nodded "It seems like he'd move hell and earth and kill off half the wizards on the continent if his friends were hurt. He actually reminds me of you, Harry."

Ron spoke up "Harry? Harry's completely different from that maniac."

Harry was frowning "I don't see it either."

Ginny rolled her eyes "Men." She turned to Harry "If the ministry took Hermione or Ron prisoner, would you go against them no matter what?"

"Yeah, course" Harry said "But I still don't get your point-"

"Oh, for goodness sake" Ginny said "Not everybody cares like you do, not everybody loves like you do. And according to Dumbledore that's what gotten you through all those disasters."

"Speaking of disasters" Harry interrupted looking out the cell door. "Do you think I'll be able to get through this one?"

Ron looked out, then groaned. Hermione was walking towards them, flanked by two ministry guards for her "safety". Not as if any of them could or would beat Hermione in a duel. She stopped outside the door and just looked at the three of them.

Hesitantly, Harry spoke up "Um, is James at the Burrow?"

Hermione sighed "Yes, _he's_ there." She put pointed emphasis on the middle word.

Harry winced "We didn't mean to get thrown in here on Christmas, we just..." He trailed off

"Didn't mean to get caught?" Hermione finished with a raised eyebrow, then sighed when Harry looked away guiltily. "For god's sake, we aren't in Hogwarts, Harry." Hermione ran her hand through her bushy hair "The ministry might decide to lock you up for real. There are still some critics that would love to see you locked up."

Ron and Ginny looked up indignantly "What? What's the reason for Harry's insanity this time? Hasn't that stupid bug Skeeter retired?"

"Skeeter wasn't the only one of Harry's critics" Hermione said "They're saying that it's your duty to fight the Dementors, and that by not doing so you're aiding the forces of the dark arts."

Ginny sprang to her feet "That's ridiculous! Have they forgotten what Harry did?"

Hermione, who had backed away, raised her hands "It just goes to show how much people need someone to blame. I'm just saying that there are serious repercussions that could result from this, not just your death but being locked up and seeing us die."

Harry, who had been about to say something fell silent and looked away.

"Blimey, Hermione" Ron said "That was harsh."

"Kingsley told me that if I got you three to promise not to do anything rash, he'd let you go." Hermione looked a little embarrassed when she got to this part

Ginny raised her eyebrows "So you're the good cop to the ministry bad cops."

Hermione shrugged but didn't say anything

"What about the Doctor, Amy and Rory?" Harry asked

Hermione shook her head "We don't know them, they just appeared out of nowhere. Kingsley's taking a lot of heat from the other officials about how he was too soft on them."

"But they could help" Harry protested.

"Have they?" Hermione asked "So far they've broken into the ministry and taken some soul-sucked bodies. How much have they actually done?"

"Hermione" Ron said "The Doctor was on to something, he was saying it right before he got arrested. He found something out in the TARDIS."

Hermione rubbed her face wearily "Look, I'm in the law-enforcement department, but I don't have much influence. This is the best you're going to get, so you can either stay in there, or come out. At least if you come out, you can do more than you can in there."

Harry hesitated, then nodded.

"I still feel rotten about leaving the Doctor behind, though" Ron said. He got up and walked towards the cage doors.

Harry smiled "Somehow, I have a feeling that they won't be kept in there for long."

**A/N: And that's the next chapter. As usual, please review and enjoy!**


	9. Chapter 9

Harry was right, the Doctor wasn't kept in the ministry for long. Harry had just come back from another dementor run with Neville and some other ministry aurors. Eighteen dementors had attacked in Sussex. The ministry hadn't seen so many attack at once, and they had immediately sent wizards to deal with the problem as quickly as possible. The obliviators could wipe out memories, but there was only so much they could do, and explaining the disappearance of family members could prove exceedingly difficult and tiring.

Even though the team of wizards had arrived quickly and formed a ring of patronuses, four muggles still fell prey to the dementors, and Harry was finding it hard to think on the positive side. The side-effects the dementors caused didn't help either.

He was munching on some chocolate walking across the farm to the Burrow when he heard an unearthly, whirring noise. He looked around, and saw a light flickering in the distance. Then he saw the police box the Doctor had appeared in materialize underneath the light, and all three of them popped out.

Harry looked around making sure no one saw, then ran over to them "How did you get out?" He asked.

Ignoring him, the Doctor made a beeline for the chocolate. "Hmm, yum. I love chocolate." He took a bite and immediately spat it out. Amy and Rory came up to him as he ranted about dark chocolate and why only milk and white chocolate should be produced.

"The TARDIS can go anywhere." Rory said "The Doctor called it and we left."

Harry frowned "That shouldn't happen. It has anti-apparation charms on it, nothing should be able to get in."

Amy rolled her eyes "Oh, come on. We can do lots of things you can't, get it in your head."

Harry raised his hands in defeat "Alright, but why did you come here?"

At that the Doctor perked up "Ah, yes. Right. First of all, the bodies I examined, it's true that their souls aren't there, but I picked up traces of their brainwaves on my scanner."

Harry frowned but the Doctor just continued "Each person has a unique brain that makes up one's character, and each brain emits unique brainwaves. I saw traces of them echoing around, somewhere in the Sussex area. I wanted to ask if anything happened there recently."

Harry looked up "Yeah, I just came back from killing some of the Dementors there."

The Doctor looked troubled "Hmm, yes. Do you know how these Dementors" He looked about for a suitable word "give birth?"

Harry thought for a bit "I remember Lupin saying that they were born in the darkest places, almost like fungus."

The Doctor thought for a moment, then brightened up "Well, have a good Christmas dinner, we'll be leaving then. Bye!"

Harry turned but the trio had already entered the TARDIS. He watched it fade away, then continued on to the Burrow.

Inside, the Doctor was fiddling with the controls again while Amy and Rory stood around trying to retain their balance as the TARDIS rocked about. "So what was that about?" Amy asked.

The Doctor had stabilized the TARDIS and now sat on one of the chairs around the control panel. "I had to confirm a couple of things. First, the Dementors are a little like the Trickster's Brigade; they feed off the abstract only these creatures feed off the person's emotions: their fears, their joys, their hurts, everything they've felt." The Doctor paused slightly, then continued "Secondly, they most probably come into being the same way. When there's a build-up of negative emotions, a Dementor is probably created."

Rory looked at Amy, then said "But why now? Why haven't Dementors been out of control up until now?"

Somehow re-energized, the Doctor sprang up. "Excellent question, Rory! Wherever a Dementor goes people get scared, ooze negative energy, that's how Dementors reproduce. They do it just by being. So why... he trailed off."

Amy frowned "So what's our next move."

The Doctor looked at her "Well, we've studied them in theory, let's study them in the real world."

Rory and Amy both stared at him as if he was crazy, but the Doctor ignored them. After all, they did it so many times the looks just bounced off him.

"Doctor, these things could suck out our souls." Rory said, but the Doctor ignored him and went out the door. "Where are we anyways?"

The trio appeared on a rocky island, with a ruined tower in the middle. "I used the TARDIS to go to the place with the most residual bad energy. I think we're outside Azkaban."

The Doctor waved his sonic screwdriver around. "Nothing here. The Dementors have all left."

But why would they leave, it would be so convenient for them if they had all this depression and despair gathered in one place."

Rory stepped forward and looked around "Poor prisoners, I can see why they wouldn't exactly be happy in here."

Amy kicked a few rocks around "But why would they leave, it would be so convenient for them if they had all this depression and despair gathered in one place."

Doctor looked at her "Good question, Pond. Why? Why would they want to roam about instead of staying here, using this as a nest. Come to think of it, why didn't they reproduce as quickly here, with all the negative energy coming off the prisoners?"

Rory and Amy didn't answer and he didn't expect them to. The three of them walked around the prison looking for something, but all they found was a ruined old building. Puzzled, they went back into the TARDIS and took off.


	10. Chapter 10

Harry was in a decent mood, despite his recent captivity in the ministry and his last dementor run. the lasting effects of the dementors had waned beneath the might of Mrs. Weasley's hot chocolate, and the whole family was having Christmas dinner together. everyone was taking turns carrying James around, while the others were showering Teddy with attention as he toddled around beneath the tables. Bill was off in France with Fleur, and Charlie had to do some work in Romania which he didn't tell anyone about. However, the fact that Hagrid and Grawp had left with him raised the general consensus that the three were off to visit Norbert.

Harry had just finished some turkey that Mrs. Weasley had been shoving in his face when the doorbell rung, and some ministry wizards stepped in. Ron groaned as Ginny rolled her eyes, and Harry tried to look as innocent as possible while Hermione glared at him

"Where were you three this afternoon?" Clarke had come to the front and frowned at the table in general, but there was no doubt as to whom he was addressing.

"We were here, in the Burrow." Ginny said, her eyes flashing dangerously "Hermione and mum can testify."

Clark sniffed disbelievingly "So it just so happens that an hour after you left, the Doctor and his accomplices escaped the ministry?"

Harry made an effort to keep his face even as the rest of the table looked at Clarke "Yes, the cells that no Death Eater has broken out of without outside aid" He put stress on the last two words.

"Well, I'm sure that none of us here had anything to do with it" Mrs. Weasley said firmly "They were here the whole time, and I had my eye on them wherever they went."

"Yeah, tell me about it" Ron muttered. He had tried sneaking off when Mrs. Weasley had got him to de-gnome the garden to no avail. Age hadn't dulled Mrs. Weasley's sense and her eagle eye spotted Ron loitering out by the chicken coops with Harry.

"Ron, shush." Hermione said, making sure James didn't go head first into the christmas pudding "Clarke, we all have alibis for each other, and there has been precedent set for multiple family member's testimony being valid."

Clarke was about to say something when Gregson came running in "Sir, there's been a sighting of the Doctor in Highgate."

Clarke turned "What was he doing?"

Gregson was obviously out of breath and his answer was almost unintelligible "He was talking with some Dementors!"

Gregson's report was almost correct. The Doctor was in Highgate, and there was communication involved. Unfortunately, it was brief, and a more accurate report would have been that the Doctor was trying to talk to the Dementor. The Doctor had picked up the signal coming from the Dementor easily, and had rushed out to try and talk to it. That was when things started to go wrong.

"Yes, hello!" The Doctor grinned "You must be a Dementor. Care for a chat?"

The Dementor turned, and Amy and Rory fell to their knees, both of them clutching their heads.

"Amy! Rory!" The Doctor turned and rushed over to them, only to fall as the Dementor's attention turned to him

_"What are you?"_ The Dementor didn't speak, but images flashed in the Doctor's head as fear flashed through his heart _"You are a storm, you are the fire, you are ice, you are eternal. What are you?"_

The Doctor's teeth clenched, making his response sound like a grunt. Amy and Rory had gotten up as the full force of the Dementor now focused on the Doctor.

_"You have known so much sorrow, felt so much anger, touched so many people, been loved by so many, your emotions are boundless, as are your years."_ The Dementor drifted towards him.

The Doctor stood weakly "Stop, don't go there. You will not-"

_"And you have killed so many, and caused so many to be killed. How many of your kind, Doctor?"_

The Doctor yelled out and fell unconscious, and Amy and Rory grabbed him and dragged him back into the TARDIS. The Doctor didn't remember any of this, he only remembered blurred images flash through his mind_ "How many people, Doctor" Davros asked "How many people have died for you. The Doctor, never looking back because he dare not look back in shame"_

Suddenly Rassilon appeared _"Doctor, the last act of your life is murder, but unto which one of us?_" And that woman behind him lowered her hands and looked at him, her eyes filled to the brim with sorrow and anguish.

He saw the fall of Arcadia again, and the Nightmare Child laughing insanely as billions died due to its whims, and Gallifrey, the aging empire that had stretched for so long being destroyed. The peaks of Solace were replaced by jagged craters, and the citadel had fallen into a huge crevase spanning the entire valley. Time Lords screamed as their world crumbled and all of them cursed his name.

_"Doctor, the man who can turn armies around with just the mention of his name."_ It was River Song, with all the knowledge of his life inside her, looking at him sadly, wanting to say what she never could. _"In the Gamma Forests the word Doctor means 'mighty warrior'. How far you've come"_

_"No, no, I don't want to... I can't."_ It was Donna as her mind burned under the weight of his mind_ "I love you!"_ It was Rose, crying on the shores of Bad Wolf bay.

More and more images flashed through his head until he wanted to kill himself from all the anguish and guilt that he felt from his long, long, life. And then he woke up gasping in the TARDIS control room, with part of the Dementor's mind left in him.


	11. Chapter 11

It was Boxing Day, and Harry had just woken up by James dashing into him on a miniature broomstick. He left Ginny to take James back up to his room, and rubbing his stomach where James had flown into him, went down the stairs where breakfast was waiting for the whole family.

Unfortunately, so was the Doctor.

He was waiting at the corner of the stairs, his shadow thrown across the wall, his face half hidden in darkness. Harry smiled, but it faded as the Doctor simply glared at him. Was this the same talkative extrovert who dashed about snatching dark chocolate?

"Doctor. What's happened." Harry looked behind him making sure no one was coming out soon.

"I've found out a few things." The Doctor stepped forward into the light, and he seemed to tower over Harry, even though Harry was slightly taller. "For instance, did you know that Azkaban wasn't meant to be a prison?"

Harry frowned "What-" But he was cut off as Ginny came down carrying James. The Doctor stepped back into the shadows and Ginny just walked past him, saying "Well, what are you waiting for? You know mum always loves seeing you open presents."

The Doctor smiled mirthlessly as Harry bewilderedly looked at Ginny, then looked back at him "Perception filter. You can see me because I let you. Ginny couldn't because I didn't let her. Anyways, Azkaban wasn't meant to be a prison. It was meant to be a way to control the Dementors."

Harry frowned. "Look, can we do this somewhere else? It looks really weird if I'm just standing here talking to myself."

The Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver, and the whirring noise of the TARDIS could be heard. It suddenly materialized around the both of them, then left immediately.

Harry looked around surprised. He had been in here before, but he hadn't had the time to study the vehicle. Amy came out of an adjoining corridor, rubbing her eyes "Doctor, there you are. Rory's in the kitchen making something, do you want to-" She broke off, looking at Harry. "He isn't supposed to arrest us for breaking out, is he?"

Harry rolled his eyes "No, I'm not. The Doctor was telling me something and when I asked to go somewhere else he just summoned his TARDIS." He turned to the Doctor, but he was leaping down the corridor yelling out at Rory to hurry up with the breakfast. Harry was stunned at the sudden change in character when he came into contact with his companions. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he lost them and there was nothing left to stem that ruthlessness and cruelty.

Harry followed Amy to the kitchen, marvelling at how enormous the TARDIS was. The biggest Harry had heard of was only three stories high including the jacuzzi, but by the looks of things the TARDIS was at least ten times larger.

"How big is this thing?" He asked Amy

Amy smirked "I thought you had this kind of thing too."

Harry raised an eyebrow "At least we don't need a noisy police box to travel around in."

"Oh yeah, you just fire a gun whenever you appear out of nowhere." Amy retorted

They had reached the kitchen, and the Doctor slid about on the smooth floor, grabbing things from the fridge and completely annoying Rory "Amy, could you get the Doctor to stop." He said as he fried some eggs.

Harry raised his voice over the oil hissing "Doctor, how big is this thing?"

"Infinite!" The Doctor spun around "That's what you get when you bring a fourth-dimensional object into a three-dimensional world. Well, not really four-dimensional or we'd create a wormhole in our wake as the bulge in the universe tried to correct itself, but..."

Harry wished he hadn't asked as the Doctor added to the general noise with his explanation of multi-dimensional engineering. Amy patted him on the back "You'll get used to it. Take a seat."

Harry sat down, not wanting to think of the reaction might have if he went missing on boxing day. Soon enough, the Doctor sat down and dug into the eggs Rory had made.

"Incredible things, the Dementors." He said.

Harry looked up sharply as the Doctor continued "I was wrong. They don't feed off negative energy, that's just what they produce. They need the good emotions: hope, joy, clarity, morals. Negative emotions create Dementors, but too much and the Dementor dies. So, they need the good emotions to balance it out."

Harry was looking at him wide-eyed "How do you know all this?" At that, Amy and Rory looked at each other, and the Doctor's energy diminished slightly. "I almost got sucked out. The Dementor was on top of me, and in the process, part of his mind went into mine."

Harry's mouth opened slightly "But, how are you talking, moving, living?"

The Doctor's face darkened and Harry wished he hadn't said anything. After a moment, the Doctor's face brightened "Well, enough of that. Now to Azkaban. Someone in the ministry obviously knew about the Dementor's anatomy or else it wouldn't have been established. You don't, of course, but someone high-up does. You see, each person has a finite amount of hope they can produce under the pressure of all that negative energy of the Dementors."

Harry cut in "Does Kingsley know?"

The Doctor shook his head "No, I plan to pay him a visit after this. Anyways, the ministry made Azkaban to stick the Dementors. It's like their nest except for they're starved the moment they're born. All the despair gives birth to a Dementor, but Dementors die just as quickly because they can't get enough positive energy. The influx of prisoners are just enough to keep the Dementors from dying out too quickly"

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing "Are you telling me that Azkaban was set up simply to control the birth rates of Dementors? And they used human souls to do this?"

The Doctor nodded, and Harry could suddenly understand why the Doctor had seemed so grim when he had confronted Harry that morning. "Why are you telling me all this?" He asked.

The Doctor went to put his dishes in the sink "Because I wanted to know that you had no idea what was going on. I couldn't believe it when I found out just now, but if you knew and just let it pass..." He trailed off.

Harry nodded, but frowned suddenly "Wait, just now? You were talking to that Dementor last night."

"Well, if you could call it talking" the Doctor said "This is a time machine. I just went forward in time to this morning to get you. I needed to know."

Amy seemed happy seeing Harry surprised again and again. "Yup, get used to it. The Doctor's going to drop you off back at the Burrow, right after you left. Try to get in without being seen, it might take a bit of explaining."

The Doctor sprang up "Right, as Amy said, time to get you back home." And he dashed off to the control room.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry walked out of the TARDIS and found himself in the yard outside. The Doctor told him to reset his watch when he had the chance, and then left. Harry was still thinking about what the Doctor told him, about how Azkaban was meant to control the Dementors at the price of human souls. Kingsley couldn't have known about it, or else he would have kept the Dementors where they were in Azkaban, but did Scrimgeour? Did Fudge? Was that why he had been so reluctant to remove the Dementors from Azkaban in Harry's fourth year?

The questions whirled through his head, causing Harry to forget the Doctor's second piece of advice, which was not to be seen. As chance would have it, Mrs. Weasley must have saw him through the window and came bustling out. Harry groaned inwardly and fielded all the questions weakly about why he was outside. He got curious looks from Ginny as well as he got in, but she didn't ask any questions and the whole family dug into breakfast. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to have been going the way it should have done, and Boxing Day didn't escape the pattern.

Once again, they all turned to the door as the sounds of knocking issued from it. Mrs. Weasley got up huffily and opened the door sharply, staring up at the face of Kingsley Shacklebolt. She started to speak but Kingsley cut her off. "Mrs. Weasley, all of you have to move. The Dementors are gathering, they'll be here in half an hour."

Everybody's head jerked up and focused on Kingsley. They had all gone up against the Dementors so much that even the mention of their name was enough to instill some fear in them.

Andromeda spoke up "How do you know they'll be coming? They usually just seem to appear."

Kingsley looked grim "All the aurors hunting Dementors gave reports of them flying in a certain direction. They all seem to be converging to the area around the burrow. The Dementors around here will probably wait until the rest arrive before appearing."

Tonks had already stood up, looking ready for action. Her auror training kicked in and it would have looked a lot more impressive if she didn't promptly trip over her chair. She muttered something unintelligible but withered under Mrs. Weasley's glare. There would never be a situation where Mrs. Weasley would allow her furniture to be insulted "How were you planning to get us out of here? You put up the tightest barriers around here, even portkeys and floo powder won't work."

"What about our experimental floo powder?" George piped up. Everyone looked at him, and he realized what he just said "Well, we still dabble in jokes and prank stuff, but we've moved into making espionage materials for the aurors."

Kingsley looked at Tonks, who nodded "It started when You-Know-Who was still around and they made shield hats and stuff, but they've been making a lot more." She turned to George "That face changing lotion is really good, it's making metamorphmagi look normal."

Hermione perked up "Really? How does it work? Wizards have been trying to imitate metamorphmagi for decades."

Ron sighed "Hermione, can't we discuss this when we aren't being surrounded by hordes of Dementors?"

Hermione blushed slightly "So do you have some of this floo powder with you now?"

"Yeah" George said "But there's a problem, it was only experimental and we didn't see much use for it so I might not have enough to last through all of us."

"How short-lasting is it?" Harry asked

"It lasts fine" George defended "But it takes time to force the person out through the anti-floo charms, so there's a bit of a delay between each person."

The mood darkened and they all looked at each other. Hermione and Ron seemed to come to an understanding and Hermione said "Harry, you have to go first with James."

Harry whirled around "What? Why?"

Ginny placed an arm on his shoulder "Because we all know that if we didn't make you, you'd pull off some excuse to go last and you might die."

Andromeda nodded "And, you're Teddy's godfather. He's lost so many people he can't lose you either."

Harry looked at them all "I won't. I can't just leave you all-"

Tonks spoke up "I don't want Teddy to lose you either. Nor you, Mum." She said looking at Andromeda.

Ron spoke up "Yeah, and there's no way mum and dad are going last."

Mrs. Weasley glared at Ron "Ronald, your father and I are perfectly fine-"

Ginny interrupted to say something, but Mr. Weasley raised his voice, something Harry couldn't ever remember him doing "Ginny, Ron, we may be old but parents should _never_ die before their children. How do you think we would feel if your soul got sucked out because we ran away first?"

Hermione now added to the noise "I agree with your parents, they shouldn't be singled out like that."

Ron turned to yell at Hermione but Kingsley intervened "Enough!" He rumbled "George, get your floo powder now. We'll put as many people through it as we can."

Calmer now that the general atmosphere of panic had been cleared by Kingsley, Ron asked "Aren't the ministry helping?"

Hermione shook her head "We've been keeping it quiet but we've had to change a couple of the laws limiting the amounts of memory wipes we've been using." When they all looked at her, she had to say it "There have been a lot of wizards kissed by Dementors as well; they're not going to risk their wizards, especially given the numbers of Dementors."

Kingsley didn't answer, but gestured for George to get the floo powder. George ran to his room, leaving the rest of them looking grimly at each other. There was a short silence, then Ginny asked "Why? Why did the Dementors come?"

There was another silence, and none of them could think of any reason why the Dementors would be galvanized into such action. Just then, George came down clutching a small satchel of floo powder. He threw it into the fireplace and it blazed an aquamarine colour.

"Did the charms change the colour like that?" Hermione asked.

George smiled "Nah, I just added in the extra colour because we were experimenting with having different colours for the rest of our products." He looked at them "Have we decided who's going?"

Ginny nodded "Yeah, we have. Petrificus Totalus."

They all gaped as Harry fell to the ground under a full body bind curse. "Sorry, Harry." Ginny whispered, and she, Ron and Hermione, flung Harry into the fire.


	13. Chapter 13

"What on earth was that for?" Mrs. Weasley looked at Ginny, his eyes widened.

"Dad, he would never let anyone else go last," Ginny replied "I'm not putting him in risk after all he's been through"

Mrs. Weasley wanted to speak up but Kingsley didn't let her wait for a response. He ushered her into the fire, gesturing for Andromeda to leave with Teddy. Andromeda hesitated for a moment, then followed Mrs. Weasley through as soon as was possible, carrying Teddy even though he could walk. Ginny looked at Ron, Hermione, George, Kingsley and Mr. Weasley, then gathered James in her arms and disappeared in the fireplace.

Ron started to speak but Hermione cut him off immediately "You are not going last."

"At least go first." Ron protested. He was about to say something else when his mouth immediately closed.

He looked around and saw Kingsley glowering at the both of them with his wand he had just used to cast the silencing spell "Both of you are idiots. You're wasting time, and the more you argue the higher the chance of one of you getting left behind is. Get in the fireplace now before I curse both of you in there."

Subdued, Ron moved to the fireplace, but before he could get in the fire burnt out, and the aquamarine flames turned yellow again and died down. Alarmed, he spun around to look at Hermione, who's eyes had narrowed. Kingsley muttered something and undid the silence charm he had put on Ron. Mr. Weasley looked pale, drawn, but resigned. George smiled grimly, but didn't crack any jokes. He drew his wand and twirled it, watching it spin between his fingers.

Hermione's fist clenched, but she bustled into the kitchen and came out with chocolate. Ron smiled despite the situation; Hermione always covered up her anxiety by being down-to-earth and practical. And when he thought about it, his biggest regret was leaving Harry behind like that. But Harry had Ginny and James and Teddy, and he couldn't imagine Harry going into depression like that. All in all, Ron really didn't have any regrets and he could tell that the rest of his family wouldn't either.

_"How are you talking, moving, living?"_ Harry's words echoed continuously in the Doctor's head. Rory and Amy had gone to sleep, and he lounged in his makeshift hammock below the control room of the TARDIS.

_"How are you talking, moving, living?"_ The Doctor didn't answer that question because he couldn't face the answer he'd gotten from the Dementor. He had tried thinking of a plan, but whenever he was in a spontaneous incarnation plans just didn't work.

_"How are you talking, moving, living?"_ The Doctor beat his head, trying to get those words out of his mind. He'd had the experience with having songs stuck in his head before in most of his incarnations, but this was the first time a phrase had gone around his brain like an ordinary neuron.

_"How are you talking, moving, living?"_ Harry asked. _"Because it wouldn't be worth it."_ The Doctor answered in his head _"Because all the hatred and anger and ruthlessness would never block out the joy and happiness I felt."_

The knowledge that he wasn't a good person rang in his head, and he remembered what River Song had said, asking him what he would become. What had he become?

He was aroused from his thoughts by the buzzing on the radar he had set up yesterday. He got up and dashed to look at it, and for a moment he just stared. Almost a thousand Dementors were converging on the Burrow, and they would be there in minutes. "Amy!" He called, fiddling with the controls as he did so.

Amy ran out, stopping in surprise as she saw the control room. The Doctor smiled despite the situation. It seemed he could still surprise her even though she had travelled with him for years. Rory stumbled out bleary-eyed and looked around him as if the control room shouldn't have been there.

It was because it wasn't; the Doctor had changed the route from their bedroom to the control room, effectively moving their bedroom right next to it. "Quick, we don't have time" He said, dashing about the console, all melancholy thoughts about the Dementors forgotten in the moment "We are going to save Harry and the rest from a thousand or so Dementors."

He saw Amy and Rory open their mouths and he quickly cut them off "Don't worry, I have a plan."

He leaned in, prompting Amy and Rory to do the same "You get all of them into the TARDIS and deal with the questions, I'll talk to the hordes of Dementors. Any questions?"

Amy rolled her eyes, used to the Doctor's ridiculous "plans" by now. "So the reason why you couldn't zip back in time and get them all out before they started panicking was because you wanted to talk to these things?"

The Doctor didn't say anything, but threw a lever dramatically and went out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

Ron was trying to cast patronuses but the overwhelming presence of the thousand or so Dementors were taking its toll. He could see them in the distance, closing in like a black wave; an inevitable and unstoppable tide of despair. He imagined he could hear them moaning, that groaning sound in his ears, but he realized it was something else. Something new. He looked around as the hoarse voice of the TARDIS grew louder and louder, and the police box appeared in front of them.

The Doctor walked out grimly, his usual outward energy sapped by the oncoming Dementors. Amy and Rory staggered and gestured for the wizards to go into the TARDIS.

"What are you doing here?" Kingsley asked. His wand was already in his hand and he had raised it, pointing it at the Doctor.

Amy gritted her teeth, her already short temper shortened by the Dementors "Bloody wizards. Always needing some explanation. Just get in the TARDIS for god's sake."

Needing no other encouragement, they all rushed in. Mr. Weasley was asking whether all muggle police boxes were like this, but was forcefully ushered in by Rory. Amy looked at the Doctor, pleading him to run, but he didn't. Opening the door, he went out and faced the fast approaching Dementors. One Dementor swirled around him, then another, then another. Soon, the Doctor was surrounded in a black sphere, Dementors around him on all sides. He struggled not to buckle down under the visions again.

"_You. Are. The. Doctor._" The words seemed to ring in the Doctor's head, far stronger than just the one he had talked to in Sussex.

"That's right." He said "I want to tell you something." The Dementors swirled around him but stayed silent, inviting the Doctor to continue "I want you to leave. I want you to stop sucking the souls and hope out of everyone here."

"_Why. Should. We? We. Shall. Perish. If. We. Do. Not_."

The Doctor was sweating now "I'll tell you why. I am the Doctor. You might not know who I am, but if the Dementor from yesterday's with you-"

The Dementors interrupted him "_We. Know. Who. You. Are, Oncoming. Storm_."

The Doctor nodded "Then you'll know what I'll do if you don't step down."

"_You. Want. Us. To. Try. And. Eat. You. You. Want. Us. To. Realize. That. You. Are. Different. That. You. Can't. Be. Touched. By. Us._" The Dementors swirled faster and faster around The Doctor, like an endlessly shifting mass of dark. "_You. Are. Different. You. Are. A. Murderer. A. Liar. A. Trickster. Something. That. Steeped. In. The. Dark. Should. Be. Cherished. You. Could. Give. Birth. To. So. Much. More. Of. Us._"

"I'm not." The Doctor said quietly "And you're wrong."

"_Then. We. Shall. Prove. Ourselves. Right. Farewell, We. Hope. To. See. The. Oncoming. Storm. Leave. More. Of. Us. In. Its. Wake_."

And just like that, the Dementors departed. Suddenly the sun seemed blinding and surreal to the Doctor and he collapsed on all fours gasping and shivering at the relief. Ron and Hermione ran out to him, helping him get up. "Mate, that was the craziest thing I've ever seen." Ron offered the Doctor some chocolate and the Doctor grabbed it in relief, forgetting about his previous aversion to dark chocolate.

The Doctor mumbled something, then looked around. "Where's Rory and Amy?" His face fell when he saw the wizards look at each other. "No, no, no, it can't be." He looked at the wizards pleading for them to defy him but they didn't.

"It was when the Dementors were surrounding you. We had gotten into the police box but Amy and Rory stayed outside to watch you." Hermione said "Then the doors closed automatically and when we got out, Amy and Rory were..." She trailed off.

"Why didn't I tell them?" The Doctor muttered, pacing around "I set the TARDIS to close if too much of the Dementors' energy was registered. I should have known they'd stay behind. The girl who waited, the two thousand year old centurion, of course they'd wait."

Kingsley spoke, not unkindly "I'm sorry for your losses"

The Doctor glared at him "And why were you caught unawares like that, hmm? You're the Ministry of Magic, HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW!?" He ended up roaring in Kingsley's face, but Kingsley didn't back down. Furious, the Doctor kicked the fence outside the burrow. "Don't follow me." And he stalked back to his TARDIS.

"Don't you want the bodies of your companions?" Kingsley asked.

Doctor shook his head and kept on walking, but Kingsley asked another question "Why did the Dementors come here? It must have been you, the Dementors have gotten far more active than ever once you arrived. I know you aren't working together with them, but why are they after you?"

The Doctor stopped at the door of the TARDIS and replied without looking back "They won't be here again. They've gotten what they wanted." And with that, he went back into the TARDIS.


	15. Chapter 15

_"I won't let the Dementors get what they want."_ The Doctor thought._ "They want me to be full of rage and despair and give birth to more of those damned Dementors. I won't let them..."_

He thought of Amy and Rory, and all they'd done together. It gave him hope but filled him with rage at the same time. _"No matter how much I run, it still comes down to killing."_ He wanted to kill the Dementors no matter how much he told them the rage would never help him win.

"Come on..." He muttered, shaking the main lever. It wasn't responding, instead choosing to turn on the scanner for dark energy.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor pressed a few buttons but they didn't respond either, and the engine groaned while the screen swiveled around to face him. "Alright, what is it." The TARDIS hadn't taken over in ages.

He looked at the screen, and didn't see anything special. The Dementors were spreading out, going back to where they came from. "What? I don't see anything?"

Again, the TARDIS groaned but it sounded lighter and wry. He looked again at the screen, and this time saw an anomaly. It exuded less dark energy than the rest. "Is that it? Just a Dementor weaker than the others?"

The engines under the floor sparked as if it was frustrated. "Well what is it?" The Doctor started pacing, an animated light re-entering his eyes at the thought of something to do. He fiddled with the screen and pulled up a bar chart on the statistics of the individual anomaly. "That's funny. A Dementor that weak shouldn't have as much emotional energy altogether. What is it?"

Another flash of sparks came out of the frustrated TARDIS. "Alright, alright. Let me trace it. Where did the Dementor come from." He pressed a few buttons, which just happened to start working again, and traced the specific energy signature. It had gone to the Burrow, of course, but it had actually gone into the Burrow. A thought came into his head, a flicker of hope.

He grabbed the phone before realizing that the wizards didn't know, or at least didn't use telephones. Grumbling slightly, he pulled the levers (that worked all of a sudden) and the TARDIS travelled straight to the Ministry of Magic.

"I'm worried about him."

It was a subdued bunch that ate lunch. Harry and the rest had come back some minutes later. He had started to say something to Ginny, but she looked pointedly at James, and he fell silent. Ginny knew that Harry felt guilty somehow, like he could have prevented the deaths of Amy and Rory. Their bodies were still in the Burrow, propped up in the garage like some sort of dolls.

"What?" Harry was having his third cup of hot chocolate and he looked up at Ginny.

"I think you might be right" Said Hermione, who refused to have more than one cup of hot chocolate out of old habits her dentist parents had drilled into her.

"I saw his face when he went back into the TARDIS, that wasn't the face of someone sane." Ginny replied. "Amy and Rory meant a lot to him."

Harry thought of the life that the both of them seemed to put in the Doctor, and nodded his agreement. "What did the Doctor mean, the Dementors got what they wanted? They converged on the Burrow because they picked up the Doctor's energy, but why would they want him, then let him go?"

"We don't know." Mr. Weasley said, his usual enthusiasm dampened "Meanwhile, what happened this morning doesn't change the fact that Dementors are running rampant among England. We've even gotten reports from the Ministry in France that the Dementors are appearing there."

Another silence issued through the room, interrupted only by the clanking of cutlery, when they heard a knock at the door. Gregson and Clarke's face were visible, and he received an icy welcome as he entered.

"The minister has tasked me with the mission of telling you that the Doctor arrived at the ministry moments after the attack on the Burrow." Gregson said, "He wishes to know why the Doctor would go to the ministry right after the attack?"

"How long was he in the TARDIS before he went?" Harry asked.

Gregson drew himself up "I am not accustomed to repeating myself."

Realizing that he almost gave away the Doctor's ability to time travel, Harry nodded while Ginny looked at him queerly. When Gregson didn't receive a reply, he turned to leave.

"What did the Doctor do at the ministry?" Hermione asked.

"He appeared in the ministers room, scaring out the French delegate, and asked the minister something."

"What did he ask?"

"I was not told." Gregson spat, acting as if this was a huge affront to his person. And he and Clarke left, walking to the knoll before apparating.

"Harry, what did you mean when you asked how long it had been before he arrived at the ministry?" Ginny asked when they were sure neither Clarke nor Gregson were listening.

Harry hesitated, then told everyone about what had happened with the Doctor that morning. When he had finished everyone looked at him in shock, and in some cases denial. Tonks was among the ones in denial "I won't believe it. I've worked in the ministry for decades and that hasn't even been hinted at." Her hair flickered and flashed along with her emotions. "I don't think even Moody knew."

"I have to agree with Tonks" Mr. Weasley said, "I may not have worked in an important department, but if something like that was happening, I would hear something."

"It would sound like something Fudge would do." Ron muttered.

"Maybe it's something that was passed on from minister to minister." Hermione cut in "There have been secrets like that before, maybe it's mention somewhere." She seemed more animated at the thought of conducting research.

"Well, even if this is true, which I still doubt." Tonks said "does this help us defeat the Dementors?"

"It seems the only way to kill them off completely would be to starve them to death," Hermione said, "but we can't take hope away from the whole world."

Ginny sat up straighter "Wait, why do patronuses work?" When everyone looked at her, she said "Why do patronuses work? We project our happiest moments into a shape, and the patronuses drive the Dementors off. Why don't the Dementors just eat it up and keep coming at us?"

"Maybe the Doctor was wrong..." Ron started to say, but trailed off. Oddly enough, everybody seemed to believe the Doctor, as if he was incapable of lying. "But if he got the information from a Dementor itself" Harry said "Could it really have been false? It would have been like legilimency."

They looked at each other in confusion, but none of them could come up with any answers.


	16. Chapter 16

The next few days passed in a solemn mood for everyone. Dementor attacks were getting even more frequent, and the ministry had held emergency patronus casting lessons, and sending out every wizard they had. There was also a large strain on the chocolate supply, and those with skills in charms had resorted to duplicating and conjuring chocolate bars. Harry had meant to go back to his house with Ginny and James, but the three of them, along with Ron and Hermione, had decided to stay in the Burrow. It was cramped, and everyone fought daily battles to keep Mrs. Weasley from claiming the couch in the living room, but they felt safer together.

"I've got news from Bill and Charlie." Mr. Weasley said.

It was in the lull before dinner, and everyone except for Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were sitting despondantly in the living room. Everyone wanted to take some of the strain off Mrs. Weasley by doing the chores, but cooking was Mrs. Weasley's sanctuary, and Ginny had been the only one allowed to help her.

Harry called the two of them over, and they rushed over when the two eldest Weasley's were mentioned. Neither had returned from their holidays and they had all feared the worst.

"Bill's in France" Mr. Weasley continued once Ginny and Mrs. Weasley came in "but he's decided to stay and help the French ministry combat the Dementors."

"How many of them are there?" Hermione asked "I thought Dementors were only native to Britain."

Mr. Weasley polished his glasses before responding "It turns out that much of the Dementor forces have been spent building a foothold in France." Gasps issued and Mr. Weasley waited for the astonishment to die down before continuing. "They don't have much experience dealing with Dementors, so the ministry's decided to send over some wizards. Bill saw what a mess Fleur's family was in, and decided to stay."

There were some worried looks as this piece of information was taken in, then Ron asked "And Charlie?"

From Mr. Weasley leaving Charlie out, they had thought that something had befallen him, but Mr. Weasley dispelled their fears. "He's in France as well, but in a different part."

He received frowns and quickly explained. "We all know he went with Hagrid to see Norberta, but we didn't know that they rendezvoused with Madame Maxine along the way. When Dementors started appearing, Madame Maxine rushed back to Beauxbatons with Hagrid and Charlie in tow."

This wasn't good news, but it was far better than the news of their deaths they had all been trying not to think about. The clock that normally displayed the states of all the family members had moved to "Mortal Peril", something that hadn't happened since Voldemort's second rise to power.

They stared at each other for a little bit, then they all stiffened. They heard the unforgettable sound of the TARDIS landing.

They all rushed out and greeted the Doctor as he came out. Harry in particular was glad to see the Doctor in a decent mood, all things considered. "Where have you been?" Harry asked, "And how long has it been for you since we last met?"

The Doctor smiled "Now you're catching on. I was doing a couple of experiments, and it has been a week for me since we last met. The same for you lot, I should think."

"Uh, it's been 3 days." Harry replied.

The Doctor shrugged "Well, close enough. At least I wasn't 12 years off like last time."

The others didn't know what to make of it, but Hermione changed the subject "What experiments did you conduct?" She seemed more animated than usual, no doubt owing to the Doctor's seemingly boundless energy.

"Stuff, random stuff." The Doctor saw Hermione's skeptical look. "Don't insult stuff, stuff is almost as important as the thing."

He walked into the Burrow, and continued talking "I must say, the Department of Mysteries is fascinating. You've come closer to the real truth than most civilizations as old as you. Breaking in there was not an easy task."

Everyone stared at him, then was assaulted by an onslaught of questions as he made his way to the Burrow. "Why did you break into the ministry of magic?" "What did you find out?" "What experiments did you conduct?" "How did you get in?" "What did you ask the Minister?"

The Doctor waved his hands in the air, as if he could fend off the questions as they bounced off him. He turned and said "You humans, always rushing about. No wonder you get out there so quickly."

He went inside the Burrow and, once he had worked up a dramatic air, said "I have figured out a lot of stuff, you see, stuff is important. Never underestimate stuff, especially the random stuff. Except when you're in a crisis with Dementors flying around, in which case underestimate away."

He sat down and looked at the expectant faces, and said "Do you know how the Dementors communicate?"

"What? Why does it matter?"

"Just a random bit of stuff. Never underestimate the stuff."

Everyone's faces went from expectant to disappointed, but the Doctor then said something that caught everyone's attention. "Don't you want to know what I asked the Minister?" When he was sure he had everyone's attention he said "Do you know how a patronus works?"

Ginny looked at Harry, then said "We wondered the same thing, after all if hope is what feeds the Dementors, shouldn't the Dementors just eat it up?"

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically "Exactly! Well, Kingsley was awfully vague, but he hinted that there might be some experiments I could do in the Department of Mysteries. So, I popped in there and had a look. I actually got a little distracted and spent a couple of days in there, then I got caught and had to run, then I went back in time and spent another couple of days or so before I got around to finding things out."

Before the others could respond, the Doctor continued "What I said before was true, the Dementors need hope to exist, but the idea of it is too foreign for their metabolisms to take in raw. They need fear to convert the energy first, before they can feed off it. It's like a combination of both hope and fear. Kind of like fear being an adaptor for the electricity to power the Dementors"

Mr. Weasley perked up. Even though he had aged, he still retained his enthusiasm and ignorance regarding muggle artifacts. "Really? How exactly do adaptors work in the real word? Do they need to harness the lightning? Is that how muggles power their fireplaces?"

There was a brief pause, then Ginny said "I don't really see how any of this is relevant."

The Doctor shrugged "Just more random stuff. Why don't you ever listen, don't insult the stuff. For the last time, never underestimate the stuff."

"Is there anything else you've found?" Mr. Weasley asked. Even though he was fond of the Doctor, he was still uncomfortable of the idea of the Doctor breaking into, and learning everything in, the most secretive and mysterious department in the Ministry.

"Not really, well, more like confirmed something I've guessed. Did you know the Dementors can communicate, but they do so on empath levels."

He looked at their frowns and rolled his eyes "Honestly, don't you get it? They communicate along the same medium as their energy source! Now that is cool."

"I'm sorry, the Dementors are cool?" Hermione said, her illusions of a methodical scientist ruined.

"Well, not cool, but...yes. Cool!" The Doctor said. He sighed at the doubtful looks the wizards and witches around him had.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Ginny asked. The Doctor looked up with a slight frown "What are you talking about, of course I'm fine. I've found out all this stuff."

"Sometimes, when people lose those who are precious to them," Mrs. Weasley said tenderly "they act like they've gotten over them by acting full of energy, until all the despair catches up with them."

The Doctor looked at her with a wan smile "Of course I'm OK, I'm the king of OK." He turned to leave, but was stopped by Mrs. Weasley's hand "Why did you come?"

"Just to keep you updated. Well, not really. I am about to do something extremely stupid, and when one is in extreme danger of dying, one wants to be with his friends." He looked at them, and they looked at him. There was a mutual understanding and empathy between the Doctor and the wizards then, and a mutual friendship.


	17. Chapter 17

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked. His voice was hushed at the Doctor's words, and he looked at the Doctor apprehensively.

"Ideally I'd have Amy and Rory with me, and River too like last time, but...well..." His voice trailed off, and the wizards and witches caught a glimpse of the agony he felt in Amy and Rory's absence.

"Doctor, what are you going to do?" Hermione asked. She had seen that look on Harry's face, whenever he would jump into mortal peril for his friends. She imagined it was the look he had when he walked into the Forbidden Forest to die by Voldemort's hand.

"As I said to Winston Churchill once," the Doctor said, ignoring the looks of disbelief "when you're about to die, you want to remember the very best."

"Doctor." Mrs. Weasley said, with more than a touch of steel in her voice "What are you going to do?"

"I've been sending out a beacon of hope for a while now. With my energy signature. The Dementors won't be able to resist all that hope processed by my anger. It'll draw Dementors in from all over England and France."

There was a brief silence, then everyone started yelling at the Doctor, asking him what the bloody hell he was doing. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked furious, and they would have slapped him had Harry not gotten them first. He was pointing at Ginny and James, while Ron did the same with Hermione. It would have continued for a long time and induced violence had a familiar cold wave of despair engulfed them and silenced the entire Burrow.

"They're here." The Doctor stood up with a grim face, and for a moment, everyone felt more scared of him than of all the Dementors approaching them. A storm of Dementors was about to hit them, but they didn't think that the wave of despair could stand against the Oncoming Storm that was about to confront them.

It was a familiar scene. The Doctor remembered facing them the first time, and he remembered what had happened then. He stood by the TARDIS and watched them flow towards him like an unstoppable tide. The tide being driven by a storm. The Doctor smiled mirthlessly at the irony.

Like last time, they surrounded him, but unlike last time the TARDIS was by his side. The wall of Dementors drew closer, and the Doctor stepped forward. They were empathetic, and what one knew they all knew. It was how they knew the Doctor couldn't be kissed.

"I am the Doctor." He said, looking at the closest Dementor.

_"You. Are. The. Doctor. Why. Do. You. Have. All. This. Hope. Left?"_

"Because of Amy and Rory. They keep me fighting. They give me hope. The hope of bringing them back."

_"Why. Did. You. Summon. Us. Here?"_

"I found out stuff. Never underestimate the stuff."

_"Nothing. You. Find. Could. Help. You."_

"Oh?" The Doctor asked, "How about the random fact that you are all empathically linked, meaning what happens to one of you along the empath spectrum happens to all?"

His eyes were now laced with shadows and his voice grew "How about, the fact that unprocessed hope can drive you off means that unprocessed rage can do the exact same thing, how about,"

The Doctor took one step closer, and the Dementors retreated back a metre or two. The waves were now being driven back by a storm so much more powerful than the one fueling them. "How about, the random fact that if an empath wave of my exact signature was blasted across the Dementor population, the rage and anger without the joy of Amy and Rory to temper it would KILL. YOU. ALL." The Doctor finished his speech with a roar, and the Dementors started to fall back, letting the weak sunlight fall on the Doctor.

"How fast can you run?" he muttered "How fast, hmm?" He looked as the Dementors started to fly away His voice rose into a shout "Because however fast you run you won't be able to escape me. You reap what you sow. You lost the moment you KILLED Amy and Rory."

And he raised his sonic screwdriver, and blasted out a frequency along a wavelength he hadn't known had existed until a week ago: The empath wavelength. His rage travelled across the whole country, and he saw the Dementors burst under the pressure of ancient anger.

All but one.

The Doctor smiled in relief, glad that his plan had worked. He hadn't mentioned it to Harry and the rest because he didn't want to get his own hopes up. The hope that he could get Amy and Rory back. One thing he hadn't mentioned was that one of the reasons he went to the Minister was to beg for Amy and Rory's bodies. Kingsley had consented, and they now lay in the control room, ready for the last part of the Doctor's plan.


	18. Chapter 18

Confused, distraught, disorientated, the last Dementor in the world felt rage. It was the last Dementor on the planet and the first Dementor to feel any passion. It rushed at the Doctor, not caring whether it died, only caring that this man, this thing, die. The Doctor had killed all of them. They were like a single body, and now the Dementor felt like a fragment that was on the verge of death. The Doctor retreated into the box that had lured them all into the trap, but the Dementor was quick and it slithered in after him, not realizing that he had once again fallen into a trap.

The Doctor smiled in satisfaction as the Dementor flowed into the TARDIS. It made to kiss him, and the Doctor quickly backed away. "You might want to consider not doing that. I'd kill you in case you've forgotten."

_"A price worth paying to kill the man who killed my people. You have done it once again, Time Lord; you have committed genocide upon my kind."_

"You deserved it when you took Amy and Rory's souls. And I'm going to take it back." The Doctor had walked down to the underbelly of the TARDIS and the Dementor followed him slowly.

_"The Time Lord victorious again, deciding who can live and who can die."_ The Dementor swirled around him. _"Did your escapade on Mars teach you nothing?"_

The Doctor clenched his fists. "You seem hell-bent on making me angry."

_**"Everything makes you angry, dear. Dementors, little boxes, what next?"**_

The Doctor stiffened, then smiled broadly. This had been the thing that was likeliest to go wrong. The TARDIS and he had agreed, but her sense of timing had always been a little off. It was highly likely that she would turn up in the future, the past, an aborted timeline, or all three in a different universe. Golden streams of light started seeping from the whole TARDIS, bathing the whole control room in a surreal glow.

"Hello, sexy."

_"What is this new being?"_ The Dementor hissed._ "What are these things?"_

"Did you ever wonder why you're the last one left?" The Doctor laughed "Did you ever wonder why you were spared?" The Dementor had stopped approaching, unnerved by the new presence that was the TARDIS.

"All that anger of mine, so why didn't you die, hmm?" The Doctor looked more mellow just by the presence of the new being. "Because all that anger was tempered and processed for you by two souls that you have swirling around inside you."

The Doctor smiled triumphantly, feeling a release from the despair he had been trying to hide. "That's right, Amy and Rory are in there and they helped you live. Amy and Rory are in there, and now this sexy thing is going to. Bring. Them. Right. Back. Out."

And those were the last words a Dementor ever heard, for it was overwhelmed by the mere presence of the TARDIS. She contained every possibility of what could ever be in the TARDIS. She was a window into the Time Vortex itself. It drove some Time Lords mad, and whatever it did to the Dementor couldn't be described. The Dementor let out a shriek of terror. In its last moments the bringer of fear itself felt what it had been inflicting.

The Doctor could see gold mist issuing from the heart of the TARDIS, and because she was released, she could communicate telepathically to him.

_**"I'm only doing this once, because you need friends so badly. Dear me, I can't ever remember a time where you were so dependent."**_ The essence of the TARDIS made its way into the Dementor, and the Dementor arched in a rictus of pain, issuing a sound that cut through to the heart and made all who heard it cradle their heads in agony. The Dementor had its entire being invaded by Time, the vast force which could kill even a Time Lord. The vast concept that would exist when nothing else did.

_**"It's a wonder they held on so long, I'm not sure if they'll be the same."**_

"They've got to be" The Doctor muttered "Just flush out the souls the Dementors had and guide Amy and Rory's souls into their bodies. They're wired up to you and everything."

_**"I can get them out, but their characters will be... different. I can revert them back to how they were though, House did a reading on them and archived their brainwaves."**_

"Then do it." The Doctor said "Of course you should do it."

_**"No qualms about having too much control over their identities?"**_ The TARDIS asked. Hearing her speak was unlike anything else, she provoked images that the Doctor's brain immediately associated with words. It was more vivid an experience than anything else.

"Of course not, just do it." The Doctor replied. "And quickly."

The TARDIS didn't respond, but two streams of gold came out of the Dementor and streaked into Amy and Rory's eyes glowed gold as the TARDIS helped restore what the Dementor had taken away, and the Dementor collapsed and dissolved into black streamers.

_**"I won't be able to talk to you anymore, but I just want to warn you"**_ the TARDIS said _**"You've become old and weary. And you can't put off the deaths of Amy and Rory forever"**_ And with that parting note, the TARDIS streamed back into its container, which seemed so big to humans but so small to contain something as magnificent as the TARDIS.

The Doctor checked Amy and Rory, but they were still unconscious. Their bodies still functioned without their souls in their bodies, and checking their pulses didn't prove anything. Silently, the Doctor sat there, waiting for Amy and Rory to regain consciousness and tell him that everything was alright.

* * *

**A/N: And that's almost the end. I'll do a chapter or two more to wrap it up, but we're nearing the end of the story. I hope the ending seemed alright and made sense, I think the ending might have been a bit rushed. Please review, and give feedback! If you have any questions or unclear about any of that, just PM me and I'll answer it in the next chapter.**


	19. Chapter 19

The Burrow was full of wizards, mostly ministry officials. It hadn't been two hours since the death of all the Dementors throughout the country, and already the ministry had found out about it and also found out about where the disappearance occurred. Bill and Charlie still hadn't come back yet, but Charlie would be coming back with Hagrid and Grawp within the week. Bill wanted to stay in France for a bit to help train the French wizards how to cast patronuses but he was in no danger whatsoever.

In fact, the only person who was unaccounted for was the Doctor. They had watched with bated breath as the Dementors surrounded him, and were rendered speechless when more than a thousands Dementors burst into feathery streamers and dissipated into the air. Before they could regain the ability of speech, the lone remaining Dementor had flown into the TARDIS. They all rushed out to the TARDIS, but before they could arrive at the small hill, the TARDIS started whirring and it disappeared in front of them. They looked at each other, and stood on the hill for a while waiting in the hopes that he would come back. When it was clear that he wasn't, they trudged back to Burrow, dejected despite the absence of the Dementors.

An hour later, the Ministry had arrived, and they started badgering everyone at the Burrow for accounts of what happened. No one mentioned the last Dementor, they only described how the Doctor had walked up against the storm of Dementors and killed all of them. The Ministry officials received the story with disbelief, but seeing as they couldn't come up with any plausible theories (many officials threw out theories even wilder and unrealistic than the one the Weasleys offered), the officials were getting ready to leave.

As they were doing so, the whirring sound of the TARDIS arriving. Everyone jumped up and looked around as the familiar shape of the TARDIS solidified into reality. A second passed, in which all talk ceased, then the door opened and Amy burst out, followed by Rory and the Doctor.

"What're all of you people doing here?" She turned to the Doctor "Are you sure we came at the right time?"

Gregson stood up "We are conducting investigations on behalf of the-"

"Minister of Magic, yeah yeah, we got that." Amy jumped down from the TARDIS and looked around "the Doctor killed off all the Dementors using weird alien technology, happy?"

Ignoring the splutters of Gregson and the incredulous looks of the other officials, she said to Ginny "Thanks. And thanks. To you, Harry and everyone else for everything." And with that, she went back into the TARDIS.

"Yeah, what she said." Rory mumbled "Except for all the insults she implied. She doesn't mean she's just scottish."

"Oi" Amy shouted from inside "You're scottish too, you know."

"How am I scottish?" Rory asked "Thanks, see you later." He went back to the TARDIS and they could hear him ask Amy "What do you mean, an honorary scot?"

The Doctor looked at the wizards, all of which had remained silent through the whole exchange. "I suppose you're wondering how I cured Amy and Rory?"

The ministry started asking questions, and the Doctor fended them off with a flap of his hands. "Harry, in here if you please." He turned back and ran into the TARDIS, with Harry following him.

Harry frowned in confusion and looked at the Doctor, who spun around and turned to face him "Why did you bring me back here?"

"I would have thought that there would be questions for you to ask me"

"Well, how did you get Amy and Rory's souls back?"

The Doctor shrugged "I isolated the Dementor that had their souls, then used the TARDIS to pull them out." It was simple when he said that, but honestly there had been so many things that could have gone wrong, it was one of the crazier plans he had thought of.

"Could you do it for the others?" Harry asked, thinking of all the grieving that would come after the whole crisis.

The Doctor shook his head "The TARDIS had an imprint of Amy and Rory's souls. In any case it was almost too late, anyone stuck in a Dementor's body loses any idea of who and what they were. I'm surprised they held on this long."

Harry smiled "Why did you want me in here?"

The Doctor smiled, "Travel with me." he said "All of time and space, there's got to be a couple of places you've always dreamed of going."

Harry was stunned, then said "I'm sorry, but I can't be away from Ginny or James. It's a time machine, but we'd both know that I went off for gods knows how long without her."

The Doctor's smile faltered "We could bring them with us."

"And Ron and Hermione? And Fred and George? And Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?"

The Doctor seemed nonplussed "No mothers. I will not have this TARDIS domesticated."

Harry laughed "Then I guess the answer is no. I'm sorry Doctor."

"Eleven hundred years old and I still never learn, it seems" The Doctor said, and he opened the door, "Keep an eye out for me if you want, if you're lucky we might even run into each other again."

Harry waved, and left the TARDIS, holding Ginny's hand as they watched the TARDIS whir, and fade into nothingness.

* * *

**A/N: Wow. That was the first story I've finished. It feels really satisfying, and I personally like the speculations I made about Dementors. **

**Thank you to all the follows, favorites, and reviews, every one of them was like a little gem that made me so satisfied.**

**Special thanks to Alicecullen3 and Notwritten for reading and encouraging me from the beginning, and to dafailwhale1997 as well. **


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